Current Events And Issues

This week on the Meltdown, we brought you new music from Parmalee, Byzantine, Last Bullet, and much more. Cover Comparison pitted Willie Nelson up against Chris Stapleton, and the results were a little surprising. We also paid musical tribute to the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and singer/songwriter Michael Johnson.

We had a great conversation on-air between myself and Megan, who will be starting her XTFM Show with Rebekah on Tuesday at 7:00 PM East. We discussed this article about a restaurant in New York. Some people agree with their policy, many do not. The discussion in the chat room on the topic was great as well, and we read some of the comments on-air. On a sidenote, I did post the article to my Facebook, and noticed something in the comments section. Those of us with Conservative and libertarian viewpoints tended to be opposed to the policy on several grounds. Those who tend to think the restaurant is doing the right thing tended to be more left-leaning, which helps confirm the beliefs of myself and many others about our left-leaning people in the US. More on that on a future show or blog post, I’m sure.

Playlist

Third Day, Revival

Skillet, Awake And Alive

Tourniquet, Twilight

Casting Crowns, If We Are The Body

Linkin Park, One Step Closer

Linkin Park, Numb

Linkin Park, Breaking The Habit

Linkin Park, New Divide

Eagles of Death Metal, Chase the Devil [Request]

Dead Kennedys, Dog Bite [Request]

P!NK, Just Like Fire (From ‘Alice Through the Looking Glass’) [Request]

Today, along with many of my fellow Americans, I went to my local precinct to cast my ballot for president, Senate, House races, and several other positions and bond issues. Don’t worry… This post isn’t going to be about who to vote for or who to not vote for… You will see enough of that on social media and on the news.

Though I’ve been eligible to vote, and have voted, for the past 20 years, and though this is my sixth presidential election, this was the first election in which I was able to vote mostly independently, without Sighted assistance. When I lived in Arizona and Washington, generally, I had to have someone assist me in filling out the ballot… Usually a relative or trusted friend. In Arizona, all we had were the paper ballots. There were no accessible voting terminals when I became eligible to vote in 1996, until my departure at the end of 1999. In Washington, we had a mix of in person voting and mail in voting. Accessible voting machines were introduced during my time in Washington. However, gaining access to one was often inconvenient. You either had to attend a meeting of ACB or NFB… Or you had to go to one specific polling place in order to use them. So, I continued using paper ballots, and having someone I trusted help me in the privacy of my home and mailing the ballot in after I was finished.

Now, I live in Ohio. I knew, from visiting a polling precinct in Springfield last year, that accessible voting terminals were much more readily available here than I had ever experienced in Washington state. However, due to when I arrived in the state and registered to vote, I had not registered in time to vote in the contest last November. With that said, today, I was looking forward to trying The machines… Don’t get me wrong. I trust my fiancé completely, and if I had needed to have her assist in filling out a ballot, I know I could count on her to do it, and to cast the vote for the candidates and positions as I dictated them to her. But, having that freedom to do it myself is truly awesome.

I reported to my precinct, which is housed in the gymnasium of the school portion of the church I currently attend. At first, I wasn’t sure how things would go… When we asked the poll workers about speech and or braille, none of them were quite sure as to what would be available. After some difficulties, we found a worker who knew how the machines function. It turns out that all of the machines have an audio option… They have headphones available if you need them, or you can do as I did and use your own earbuds or headphones. The buttons are clearly marked in braille. Once they had the machine set up, I was able to go through the entire Ballot without issues. Yes, it may have taken me quite a bit longer because the audio is much slower than I’m used to listening… But, I was afforded the same right to privacy and secrecy of my vote as my Sighted counterparts.

No matter who wins the top job, no matter how the races turn out… For the first time, I truly know how my ballot was cast. The machine spoke very clearly, letting me know who or what I was selecting, and even went over my selections at the end, allowing me an opportunity to make changes if necessary. Like I said, I’m thankful to those who have assisted me with voting in the past, even if my vote differed from theirs… But having the freedom to cast my vote and take my time is A truly awesome feeling.

If I could change anything about the process, I would suggest that poll workers need to be better trained… Even if you don’t show every worker every function of the machine, they should at least know what is available for their blind voters, as well as those with any other disabilities requiring assistance. Other than that, I must say, I was very pleased with my experience.

Wes’s Musical Meltdown and the rest of the XTFM staff are proud to host and present The Request-A-Thon For Shelly Gage. Join us for the live broadcast on Saturday, December 12, starting at 12:00 PM Eastern, and running for as long as the requests take to play through. Read on to find out how this works, and how you can start getting involved now.

Some of you may be asking yourselves “Who is Shelly, and why is The Meltdown raising money for her?” Those questions will be answered in this article. However, if you’d like to hear a bit more about/from Shelly herself, Check out our October 13 Broadcast.

The short version is this. At the age of 13, Shelly went blind due to Diabetic Retinopathy. Thanks to the wonders of modern medical science, Shelly has an opportunity to have some sight restored through a safe, but non-FDA-approved, procedure involving Adipose stem cells taken from her own body and re-implanted into/around her eyes. Her reason for doing this is simple. She was on her way to a promising figure skating career when she went blind. She’d like to be able to return to the ice and safely maneuver, even if full sight is not restored.

A breakdown of all costs involved is listed on her donation site along with everything you may want to know about the ccause and the procedure. No monies will be handled by myself or other station staff.

How It Works And What We’re Doing

To donate to Shelly’s Stem Cell procedure, Click here and make your donation. Any amount helps. For every dollar you donate, you then get to make a request which will be aired on the request-a-thon on December 12, 2015. Myself, Shelly, and several of our XTFM airstaff will be on-hand for the broadcast event. I will host the entire show along with Shelly, and many of our other DJ’s have committed to joining us throughout the day.

Once you’ve completed your donation, send your requests to requests@wesderby.net. Along with your requests, you may either send your receipt to show you’ve donated, or I’ll confirm your donation with Shelly to make sure it has been processed before adding to the requests for the show. Pretty simple! So, if you donate $1, you get one request. If you donate $10, you get 10 requests.

Please have requests submitted to me by 11:59 PM US Eastern Time on Thursday, December 10, 2015. Of course, donations will be taken until Shelly raises enough money for the procedure and other necessary expenses associated with it. Depending on the success of this request-a-thon, there may very well be a second one.

To listen, Visit the XTFM website and pick your media player of choice. Or, if you have the TuneIn Radio app on your mobile device, simply go to the Search tab and search for X Transmission FM. Then, on the 12Th of December, tune in, and listen for your name and your requests. You get the joy of helping someone out, and hearing songs you’ve picked. There are no limitations as to genre , adult language, or other content. if I have it or can locate it, it will get played.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via the form on the website, or leave them in the comments.

The first Musical Meltdown of October was a fun and interesting one. I gave Megan the night off, and we had David Dunphy, who is well-known throughout the internet radio community, as our co-host. David brought his wit, humor, and insights to the program and helped us have lively discussions on sports, Draft Kings-style 1-day Fantasy leagues, and of course…The big topic, at least in the blind community this past week, Jewel Shuping. For those who don’t know about her, do a Google search, and listen to our discussion. She went blind, either accidentally or on purpose, depending on which reports you believe, due to drain cleaner in the eyes. Ouch! Sounds unpleasant to me.

Of course, in addition to lively conversation, we played your requests and had our cover comparison. Also, I apologize in advance for the weird ending. The universe conspired to have Skype and all other sound just sort of tank mid-way through a Van Halen song, and once I got some things back up, we were in the midst of another song…So, we aborted the show slightly before we intended to end. Even so, it clocks in at just over the normal 3 hours.

Join us next week as I will have an incredible guest for everyone to enjoy.

Tonight, while surfing Twitter, I came across this story, and have to say I was angry after reading it. Go ahead and read the story, then come back to this window.

So, while we all know we’re not supposed to fight, and not supposed to throw punches at school, this student was suspended for simply defending a classmate. So to the powers that be at Huntington Beach High School, I ask you this. Should this kid, seeing his fellow student under attack by a bully, simply have allowed the beating to continue? It sounds like school staff weren’t doing anything to intervene. As the article states the subject under attack was being hit on/around the head, and as head injuries can be very serious, I’m glad someone stepped in and put a stop to it.

As many of my readers know, I am totally blind. However, the fact he was defending a blind/visually impaired person is not why I believe he should not have been punished. I would feel this way were he defending any fellow student, staff member, or anyone else. We’ve become a society that punishes those who help others, forgetting that unfortunately, violence is sometimes necessary to defend yourself and/or those around you. In my opinion, the bully got what he deserved. If thiss were my kid who’d knocked the bully to the ground, I’d be praising her quick thinking and taking action instead of standing idly by.

Shame on you, Huntington Beach High school. This student should have his suspension from school lifted, and should be welcomed back onto the football team with open arms. His act of courage should be rewarded, not punished.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a fan of using violence to solve a problem. However, with bullies, often, violence is the only thing they understand. Many times, giving the bully a taste of his own medicine is the only way to teach him a lesson and get him to leave you alone.

What do you, the readers, think? Feel free to sound off in the comments below.